Dr Frankenstein's Haunted Church
by Passionate Cec
Summary: The slightest oddity can create the most far-fetched tales, especially coming out of the mouth of children. But are they really that far-fetched? OC for the most part.


Heya. :)

So I don't really know how to qualify this little piece. It's not really a crack!fic because, with the Sanctuary, something like that is doomed to come up and be imagined. But I did take it a bit further than it needed to. Especially with the names.

The writing style isn't great but keep in mind whose point of view it is. He's the reason.

I don't have much more to say except that I actually really like this little tid-bit. I hope you share my opinion. Let me know. Reviews always make me very happy! :D

And I still do not own Sanctuary and Helen Magnus. No money. Just fun... I do, however, own Jimmy, Jack, Nate, Ellen and Nick.

Enjoy. :)

**Dr. Frankenstein's Haunted Church**

Jimmy loved camping. And he loved it even more on the family reunion weekend because it meant that he would get to see his cousins. They would be allowed to share a tent because they were small enough to fit in and his dad would always say that, if it was a little tight, they'd just squeeze and keep each other warm. They were allowed to stay up late and they could stay by the fire with the parents or stay in their tent and play games. He liked to stay in the tent. At least they could talk. Staying with the parents all evening was boring.

They had all agreed so they were all sitting in a circle in the tent.

Jimmy was the one closest to the opening because he was nine – almost ten – which meant he was the oldest one. Jack, his favourite cousin, who was six months younger, was sitting right next to him. Ellen was the second youngest. She was seven and Jimmy thought she was nice and cool. She was definitely better than the whiny girls at school so he liked her. Besides, she was really pretty and really smart. Jack liked her too which was why they were sitting next to one another. Nate, her older brother, was eight even though he kept saying he was almost nine. Jimmy liked him because he was funny and he was cool too. The last one was Nick who was also seven. He was younger than Ellen and he kept trying to play with them. He said that Ellen was a girl and just barely older than him so he should be allowed to play too because he was a boy. But he wasn't as funny as Ellen and he was a real chicken. Jimmy thought he was really annoying.

They had wrapped themselves in their sleeping bags and had put the candy, chocolate and their four flashlights in the middle. During the day, they had gone fishing by the river and they'd swum in it for a while. They'd played hide and go seek and then tag and, after dinner, when they were around the campfire with the parents, they had made smores. Which was what Jimmy liked the most about camping. They could play around all day and then eat whatever they wanted. And, even though his mum didn't really agree, they were allowed to eat as much candy as they wanted. After they'd retreated in the tent, they'd played cards and other games for a while until Jimmy got an idea.

'Wanna tell ghost stories?' He offered, with a bright grin.

Jimmy knew immediately the reactions he would get. Jack was enthusiastic and immediately agreed, quickly followed by Nate and Ellen though she was a little bit hesitant. Nick didn't say anything but Jimmy knew perfectly well he just didn't want to say he was scared and didn't want to listen to ghost stories. But, even if he had said something, they were four against one which meant they won. He had learnt at school that that was how people chose the president which was something really, really important so he was sure it was done right.

'Who wants to start?' Nate asked.

'Jimmy should,' Ellen stated which made Jimmy grin. He was sure he had the best and scariest story of all. He almost shuddered himself when he thought about it. 'He's the one who offered.'

Jack and Nate nodded and Nick still didn't say anything which basically meant that he wasn't against it. Jimmy had learnt that too. If someone didn't vote then their opinion didn't matter in the end result.

'First we have to turn off the flashlights,' Jack reminded. 'We can only leave one on.'

'I'm keeping that one,' Nick said, making a grab for the flashlight his mum had given him.

'No, you can't!' Nate argued. 'Jimmy is the one who keeps it. Once he's done telling his story, it's Jack's turn and you'll get it when it's your turn.'

'Well, I want to keep a flashlight.'

'But, you can't. It's no fun if it's not dark,' Jack stated grabbing three of the four flashlights and putting them behind him and Ellen.

She looked up at him with big blue eyes and smiled slightly. She pulled her sleeping bag tighter around her and Jimmy watched as she tried to decide whom to get closer to; her big brother or Jack who was bigger and taller and who liked her more than Nate. Jimmy knew that, sometimes, when boys were really annoying her, Jack helped Ellen get rid of them. She didn't really need him because she kicked and punched like a boy – as opposed to the girls at his school – but Jack liked to help her because he didn't like when someone picked on her.

In the end, she decided to stay right where she was. Jimmy grinned again. When he went back to school on Monday, he'd tell his friends that he had the coolest girl cousin ever because she was really tough even though she was little.

Jimmy grabbed the flashlight and pointed it up towards his face, watching as all four cousins huddled a bit tighter in their sleeping bags and a bit closer to each other. He waited a little bit, looking at each of them for a few moments.

'This is a true story,' he finally started. 'And it happens in the town where I live. There's a church. It's really, really old and I go by it every day when I come back from school. It looks really nice and it doesn't look like a haunted house but it's way, way worse than a haunted house. There's a woman who lives there. Except she's not a woman; she's a ghost.'

'How do you know that?' Nick interrupted.

'Hey! You can't speak while someone is telling a ghost story,' Nate exclaimed, throwing a candy at him.

'I want to know how Jimmy knows she's a ghost,' Nick repeated.

'Everyone knows she's a ghost. Even mum and dad know she is a ghost. And we know she's a ghost because she doesn't age. She always looks the same. She changes clothes all the time and she has different hairdos, but she never, ever ages. That's because she was killed in that church and now she is haunting it. She roams the corridors and she keeps secrets there.'

He paused, looking at his audience. Nick's eyes were wide and he looked a bit pale though he seemed about to argue or ask another question. Nate look fine and just wanted to know the rest of the story. Jack looked okay too but Jimmy knew that he would be. Jack wasn't scared of anything. That was why Jimmy liked him so much. Ellen looked pale and shaky too. But she didn't say anything and didn't cry or run away. She just got a little bit closer to Jack who looked down at her at the same time as Nate did. Nate shook his head.

'Don't be such a baby, Ellen.'

'I'm not a baby!' She exclaimed. 'I want to know about the ghost lady and the secrets.' She settled down right in her new spot, closer to Jack. He grabbed her smaller hand and Ellen looked up, smiling.

'No one is really sure what the ghost lady keeps in the church. But there is one thing everybody knows. She keeps monsters there. Really, really mean and bad monsters with long teeth and bad breath and long claws that will rip you open in one strike. One claw is longer than my arm and one tooth is bigger than my head. You can hear them growling and howling at night. Really loud. Rrrrr. Hooooo. Rrrrrrrr. Hooooo.

'You can hear them all over town. And when you hear them, when you hear them growling and howling, you know you have to go home very quickly. Because, when they howl and growl like that, it's because they're asking the ghost lady to let them out because they're hungry. And then she lets them out so they can go eat. And they eat whatever they find. If you're not home by then, then you're sure that you're going to be eaten!'

'There's no such thing as monsters,' Nick mumbled shakily.

Jimmy and Nate shot him a glare but they didn't say anything. Jimmy then turned to look at Jack and Ellen. She was holding on to his hand tight but she wasn't crying and she was still sitting straight.

'There are monsters. And you can hear them. Some people even say they saw them. Sometimes you can see a monster walk past a window. But it's very dangerous. When you go by the church, you have to run if you don't want to get caught. The ghost lady has all sorts of rooms in that church because it's really big. She has rooms where she keeps the monsters during the day. She has rooms where she keeps the children and the people she kidnaps. She has rooms where she turns children and people she kidnaps into monsters.'

'No!' Nick interrupted again. 'If she kidnapped people and children, the police would have put her jail.'

'She's a ghost, Nick,' Ellen said. 'They can't put her in jail because she'll just escape again.'

'Exactly. She can walk through walls and she can go anywhere she wants and do whatever she wants. So, even if everybody knows what she does, the police can't stop her. So she takes people and children and she keeps them down there, in the church, in a very small and very dark room, with no food for a long time. And you can hear people screaming because they're scared and because they can see and hear what will happen to them.

'During the night, she lets the monsters out and she goes out with them to find victims but, during the day, she cuts people open. She likes children the best so she takes them and she cuts them open. She eats their heart and then she turns them into monsters. Big, bad monsters with hairs all over their body. She knows potions to make them grow bigger, to make their teeth and claws grow. And then you can't recognise the children. Even the parents can't recognise them because they forget everything and they just want to kill and eat.

'Sometimes, the ghost lady gives them specific victims. She walks around the town and she finds people and she tells her monsters to get them. And the monsters only listen to her. They do whatever she asks because she eats their hearts before they become monsters. That way, they belong to her and they always do what she tells them to.'

'She's alone in the church with her monsters?' Nate asked, breaking his 'no interruption' rule.

'No. She has other ghosts with her. Other people who have died there and who haunt the place like she does. But she's the Queen ghost and they have to listen to her and do what she says. She's the one who turned them into ghosts and who made them come back to the church so she can have people doing whatever she says. You can see them through the windows too and, sometimes, you can even see them in the streets. In the middle of the day, in the middle of the night, they can come at any time and you never know who they are going choose and what the ghost lady is going to do to them.

'Sometimes, you can see the ghost lady at the window. She just stands there for hours and she watches people and children so she can choose someone. If you walk too close to the walls or if you're not quick enough, she'll look at you and she'll smile and you'll know that she has chosen you. And then there's nothing you can do. You can't escape because she's faster than you and she can go everywhere. She knows the smell and the taste of your blood so she'll find, no matter where you are. If she chooses you, you can't do anything because, if you try to escape, she's even meaner. She tortures you even longer before she opens you up and eats your heart. And she'll make you watch everything.'

Ellen gasped and Jimmy turned to look at her. One of her hands was covering her mouth but he was pretty sure it was because she hadn't meant to gasp and she was sorry that she had made noise and interrupted him. Jack still held her other hand and she sat close to him but she looked more confident and less scared than earlier. Nate looked at her and smiled when he saw she had toughened up again. Jimmy knew he sometimes picked on his little sister but that was okay because, if a boy was really, _really_ annoying to her, he helped her and protected her. And Jimmy was certain that he told all his friends that he had the best little sister ever.

He turned to look at Nick who looked paler than the ghost lady did and who looked really scared. Jimmy thought he was going to stand up and run to his mummy but he was probably scared that they would make fun of him if he did so he stayed put but he was shaking and almost whimpering.

'Is there any way to not get caught?' Nate asked quietly. Ellen looked up at him, her blue eyes wide and bright.

'Not really. You just have to make sure that she never sees you, that she doesn't know you're alive and she won't want to catch you.'

'How do you do that?' Ellen asked.

'I have to go by the church every day when I come back from school.' All four of them gasped. 'And we have to run really fast. If we walk or if we stop, she'll see us and look at us and she'll smile at us. We have to run and not stop in front of the church otherwise she'll catch us and open us up and eat our hearts and turn us into monsters,' he finished, his voice a whisper. All four pairs of eyes in front of him with wide with fear and amazement.

'All right, kids,' Ellen and Nate's mum said, unzipping the tent's opening. She poked her head in, smiling at the small group of huddled children. 'Time for sleep.'

'But, mummy!' Nate argued.

'No arguing, Nate.'

'Okay,' Ellen and Nate muttered at once.

'And that goes for all of you, kids,' she added, looking at the three other boys. She waved the kids a kiss before exiting the tent again.

That night, Ellen slept curled up between Nate and Jack, her sleeping bag pulled up to her nose, her head tucked under Jack's chin, her face pressed into his chest. One of his arms was wrapped around her and her back was being warmed by her brother's chest pressed firmly against it. Jimmy slept on Jack's other side, shivering slightly, unconsciously pressing himself closer to his favourite cousin during the night. Nick spent a long time shivering and shuddering in fear. He wanted to get out of the tent and cross to his parents' tent to curl up between them but he was worried about a monster snatching him in between tents. Finally, he pressed himself against Nate's back, curled into foetal position, the sleeping bag pulled completely over his head.

When Jimmy raced passed the church on Monday, running as fast as possible, his escape did not go unnoticed. Inside the church, a pale brunette woman smiled at the sight of the small boy trying to run faster than his legs could carry him. Her eyes followed his hasty retreat all along the street and she shook her head light-heartedly at the foolishness of the urban legend about her.

Oh, yes. Helen Magnus knew everything about it and it amused her to no end. After all, the longer people spread the word, the longer her keeping monsters behind the walls of the church was talked about in such manner, as nothing more than an urban legend, a tale to scare the children and send a shiver down adult's backs, the longer the existence of abnormals would be kept a secret. The longer she could keep them safe.

If only Jimmy knew that, that day, the ghost lady had smiled at him and he had lived to see another day.


End file.
